Unlikely friendships movies and TV shows

The list contains the best, new and most relevant unlikely friendships movies ordered by relevance. The recommendation service has sorted out feel good, sentimental, touching, humorous, realistic and melancholic films and TV shows about / with unlikely friendships, friendship, mentor, storytelling, dialogue, destiny, life philosophy, runaway, transformation and culture clash plots mostly in Drama, Comedy and Romance genres shot in USA, UK, France and other countries.
unlikely friendships movies
4309
TOP 10 movies tagged as unlikely friendships: The Intern (2015), The Intouchables (2011), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Camp X-Ray (2014), A Man Called Ove (2015), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), As Good as It Gets (1997), When Harry Met Sally... (1989), Penelope (2006), Rush Hour (1998).

List of unlikely friendships movies

 7.1
 306K
The Intern (2015)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min.
Story: 70-year-old widower Ben Whittaker has discovered that retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be. Seizing an opportunity to get back in the game, he becomes a senior intern at an online fashion site, founded and run by Jules Ostin.
Style: feel good, inspirational, light, sweet, touching ...
Audience: chick flick, family outing, girls' night, teens
Plot: workplace, mentor, friendship, elderly, office, destiny, prejudice, unlikely friendships, life philosophy, fashion, workplace situations, life ...
Time: year 2015, 2010s, 21st century
Place: new york, usa, brooklyn new york city, peru, san francisco ...
Is relevant?
The Intouchables (2011)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 112 min.
Story: A true story of two men who should never have met – a quadriplegic aristocrat who was injured in a paragliding accident and a young man from the projects.
Style: feel good, inspirational, touching, uplifting, sincere ...
Audience: date night, teens, family friendly, adult
Plot: friendship, disability, unlikely friendships, life philosophy, friendship between men, disabled person, human relationship, handicapped, interracial friendship, culture clash, caregiver, friends ...
Time: 2010s, year 2011, 21st century
Place: france, paris france
Is relevant?
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 142 min.
Story: Framed in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, ...
Style: clever, uplifting, inspirational, touching, twist ending ...
Audience: date night, chick flick, teens, kids, family friendly ...
Plot: prison, prison escape, freedom, friendship between men, hopes, friendship, corruption, human spirit, justice, prison life, life, stephen king ...
Time: 1940s, 1950s, 90s, year 1994, 2010s ...
Place: usa, maine, columbus ohio, persia, iran ...
Is relevant?
 6.8
 44K
Camp X-Ray (2014)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story: A young woman joins the military to be part of something bigger than herself and her small-town roots. Instead, she ends up as a new guard at Guantanamo Bay, where her mission is far from black and white. Surrounded by hostile jihadists and ...
Style: sincere, captivating, serious, realistic, teen ...
Audience: teens
Plot: female soldier, military police, female protagonist, prison life, military, relationships, friendship, propaganda, love story, bullying, forbidden love, ethnic conflict ...
Time: year 2014, 2000s, 21st century
Place: middle east, afghanistan, cuba, iraq, california
Is relevant?
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A Man Called Ove (2015)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Sweden, Denmark, Norway
Duration: 116 min.
Story: Despite grumpy 59 year-old Ove being deposed as president of his condominium association, but he keeps looking over the neighbourhood with an iron fist. When pregnant Parvaneh and her family move into the terraced house opposite Ove and she ...
Style: touching, ironic, feel good, compassionate, scenic ...
Audience: family friendly
Plot: love, loneliness, suicide attempt, swedish, destiny, unlikely friendships, elderly man, friendship, mentor, pregnant woman, neighbor neighbor relationship, husband wife relationship ...
Time: year 2015, 2010s, year 2016, year 2014
Place: spain, scandinavia, eastern europe
Is relevant?
My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: Japan
Duration: 86 min.
Story: Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister ...
Style: anime, feel good, sweet, atmospheric, touching ...
Audience: family outing, family friendly, toddlers, kids, preschool
Plot: children, friendship, magic, magical, sisters, countryside, young heroes, child protagonist, teaching the ways of the world, sister sister relationship, little girl, father daughter relationship ...
Time: 1950s, year 1988, 20th century, 50s
Place: japan, asia, seattle, tokyo
Is relevant?
As Good as It Gets (1997)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 139 min.
Story: New York City. Melvin Udall, a cranky, bigoted, obsessive-compulsive writer, finds his life turned upside down when neighboring gay artist Simon is hospitalized and his dog is entrusted to Melvin. In addition, Carol, the only waitress who will ...
Style: feel good, touching, sentimental, sweet, inspirational ...
Audience: chick flick, date night, teens, girls' night, family outing
Plot: dog, mental illness, neighbor, friendship, writers, gender, artist, love story, depression, gay, single mother, waitress ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, year 1997
Place: new york, brooklyn new york city, usa, maryland, baltimore ...
Is relevant?
When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story: During their travels from Chicago to New York, Harry and Sally Will debate whether or not sex ruins a perfect relationship between a man and a woman. Eleven years later, and they're still no closer to finding the answer.
Style: feel good, romantic, romantic comedy, sweet, sentimental ...
Audience: date night, girls' night, chick flick, teens
Plot: male female friendship, friendship, fall in love, autumn, love and romance, love, love story, unlikely couple, initially antagonists, best friends in love, friends, life philosophy ...
Time: 80s, 20th century, year 1989, 70s, year 1987 ...
Place: new york, manhattan new york city, chicago, seattle, usa
Is relevant?
 6.7
 69K
Penelope (2006)
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Country: UK, USA, Germany
Duration: 104 min.
Story: Forlorn heiress Penelope Wilhern is cursed, and the only way out is to fall in love with someone of suitable stock. But how can she find her soul mate when she's sequestered inside her family's estate with only her parents to keep her ...
Style: fairy tale, feel good, romantic, light, touching ...
Audience: girls' night, chick flick, teens, kids, family outing ...
Plot: love and romance, fall in love, love, self discovery, couples, looking for love, true love, magical, fantasy world, love story, loneliness, mother daughter relationship ...
Time: year 2006, 2000s, 19th century, 21st century
Place: britain, canada, london
Is relevant?
 7.1
 325K
Rush Hour (1998)
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story: When Hong Kong Inspector Lee is summoned to Los Angeles to investigate a kidnapping, the FBI doesn't want any outside help and assigns cocky LAPD Detective James Carter to distract Lee from the case. Not content to watch the action from the ...
Style: humorous, funny, buddy comedy, hilarious, action comedy ...
Audience: chick flick, family friendly, teens, boys' night, girls' night
Plot: martial arts, police, reluctant partners, kung fu, buddy cop, fight scenes, two man army, african american, buddy, chase, cop, triad ...
Time: 90s, year 1998, 20th century, year 1997
Place: los angeles, china, california, hong kong, usa
Is relevant?
The King's Speech (2010)
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 118 min.
Story: The King's Speech tells the story of the man who became King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, George ('Bertie') reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a dreaded stutter and considered unfit ...
Style: inspirational, period piece, sincere, sentimental, uplifting ...
Audience: chick flick, teens, adult
Plot: british history, stuttering, world war two, british royal family, royal family, politics, queen, friendship, british monarchy, monarchy, historical character, king ...
Time: 1930s, year 2010, pre world war two, 50s, 2000s ...
Place: england, britain, london, united kingdom, scotland ...
Is relevant?
 8.1
 525K
The Help (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, India
Duration: 146 min.
Story: Aibileen Clark is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson is an African-American maid who has often offended her employers despite her family's ...
Style: touching, inspirational, feel good, thought provoking, uplifting ...
Audience: chick flick, girls' night, teens, kids, date night ...
Plot: racism, friendship, civil rights, discrimination, writers, women, master and servant, racial segregation, maid, feminist, racial issues, blacks and whites ...
Time: 60s, year 2011, year 1963, 1900s, 50s ...
Place: mississippi, usa, america, southern usa, africa
Is relevant?
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 7.3
 271K
The Bucket List (2007)
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story: Corporate billionaire Edward Cole and working class mechanic Carter Chambers are worlds apart. At a crossroads in their lives, they share a hospital room and discover they have two things in common: a desire to spend the time they have left doing ...
Style: feel good, inspirational, sentimental, philosophical, thought provoking ...
Audience: chick flick, date night
Plot: friendship, elderly, terminal illness, road trip, journey, unlikely friendships, human spirit, bucket list, life changing, dying, philosophy, motivation ...
Time: year 2007, 21st century
Place: cote d'azur, usa, africa, johannesburg south africa, los angeles ...
Is relevant?
 8.1
 201K
Mary and Max (2009)
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 92 min.
Story: A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York. In the mid-1970's, a homely, friendless ...
Style: depressing, touching, emotional, sad, adult animation ...
Audience: kids, teens, adult
Plot: loneliness, stop motion, friendship, social misfits, letter, depression, melancholy, asperger's syndrome, young woman, relationships, solitude, mental illness ...
Time: 20th century, year 2009, 2000s, year 1976, 70s
Place: australia, oceania, persia, usa, new york ...
Is relevant?
The Fundamentals of Caring (2016)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story: Having suffered a tragedy, Ben becomes a caregiver to earn money. His first client, Trevor, is a hilarious 18-year-old with muscular dystrophy. One paralyzed emotionally, one paralyzed physically, Ben and Trevor hit the road on a trip into the ...
Style: road movie, depressing, touching, sentimental, compassionate ...
Audience: teens, girls' night
Plot: road trip, disability, abandoned by father, writers, honest, coming of age, friendship, depression, justice, tragedy, drinking, mentor ...
Place: seattle, salt lake city utah, idaho, utah, montana
Is relevant?
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min.
Story: While serving time for insanity at a state mental hospital, implacable rabble-rouser, Randle Patrick McMurphy inspires his fellow patients to rebel against the authoritarian rule of head nurse, Mildred Ratched.
Style: psychological, serious, thought provoking, dramatic, emotional ...
Audience: family friendly, date night, teen drama, adult
Plot: mental institution, mental illness, fighting the system, freedom, human spirit, insanity, society, mental patient, mental disorder, nurse, psychiatrist, schizophrenia ...
Time: 60s, 20th century, year 1975, year 1963
Place: oregon, eastern europe, america, persia
Is relevant?
 6.3
 28K
Pete's Dragon (1977)
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min.
Story: Pete, a young orphan, runs away to a Maine fishing town with his best friend a lovable, sometimes invisible dragon named Elliott! When they are taken in by a kind lighthouse keeper, Nora, and her father, Elliott's prank playing lands them in ...
Style: entertaining, intense, semi serious, feel good, touching ...
Audience: kids, family outing, girls' night, family friendly, pre-teens ...
Plot: children, dragon, small town, friendship, lighthouse keeper, orphan, presumed dead, family relations, love story, unlikely friendships, escapades, imaginary ...
Time: 20th century, 1900s, 90s
Place: maine, usa, new england
Is relevant?
Lost in Translation (2003)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 102 min.
Story: Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.
Style: melancholic, atmospheric, cerebral, intellectual, sexy ...
Audience: girls' night, date night, family friendly, chick flick
Plot: loneliness, midlife crisis, older man younger woman relationship, age difference, friendship, character study, alienation, fish out of water, melancholy, unlikely couple, actor, hotel room ...
Time: 2000s, year 2003, 21st century
Place: japan, tokyo, asia, yale university, america ...
Is relevant?
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Anna and the King (1999)
Genre: Drama, History, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 148 min.
Story: The story of the romance between the King of Siam (now Thailand) and the widowed British school teacher Anna Leonowens during the 1860s. Anna teaches the children and becomes romanced by the King. She convinces him that a man can be loved by just ...
Style: romantic, epic, emotional, serious, captivating ...
Audience: girls' night, chick flick, adult
Plot: love story, culture clash, royal family, forbidden love, social differences, interracial relations, politics, love and romance, opposites attract, teacher, palace, fall in love ...
Time: 19th century, ancient times, victorian era, 1860s, year 1999 ...
Place: southeast asia, asia, thailand, madagascar, burma ...
Is relevant?
 8.3
 1.2M
Up (2009)
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story: Carl Fredricksen spent his entire life dreaming of exploring the globe and experiencing life to its fullest. But at age 78, life seems to have passed him by, until a twist of fate (and a persistent 8-year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell) gives ...
Style: touching, feel good, inspirational, sweet, tear jerker ...
Audience: kids, family outing, family friendly, pre-teens, girls' night ...
Plot: dog, loneliness, unlikely friendships, friendship, follow your dream, friends, journey, obsessive quest, hopes, giant bird, wilderness, imagination ...
Time: year 2009, 2000s, 21st century
Place: south america, iran, venezuela, latin america, mount everest ...
Is relevant?
Scent of a Woman (1992)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 156 min.
Story: Charlie Simms is a student at a private preparatory school who comes from a poor family. To earn the money for his flight home to Gresham, Oregon for Christmas, Charlie takes a job over Thanksgiving looking after retired U.S. Army officer Lieutenant ...
Style: inspirational, sentimental, touching, dramatic, realistic ...
Audience: teens
Plot: friendship, blindness, mentor, blind character, tango, human spirit, human nature, life philosophy, coming of age, thanksgiving, loneliness, preparatory school ...
Time: 20th century, 90s
Place: new york, new england, new hampshire, usa, seattle
Is relevant?
 7.0
 96K
Taxi (1998)
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
Country: France
Duration: 89 min.
Story: In Marseilles (France), skilled pizza delivery boy Daniel who drives a scooter finally has his dreams come true. He gets a taxi license. Caught by the police for a huge speed infraction, he will help Emilien, a loser inspector who can't drive, ...
Style: humorous, light, entertaining, exciting, semi serious ...
Audience: boys' night, teens, kids, girls' night
Plot: car, taxi, car chase, chase, driver, chases and races, unlikely friendships, taxi driver, heist, buddy, french president, incompetent police ...
Time: 90s, 20th century
Place: france, marseille, europe, provence, paris france
Is relevant?
 6.4
 17K
The Starling (2021)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min.
Story: A woman adjusting to life after a loss contends with a feisty bird that's taken over her garden — and a husband who's struggling to find a way forward.
Style: suspense, disturbing, psychological, captivating, emotional
Plot: animal human communication, bird, grief, human animal relationship, loss, love, psychology, bereavement, loss of family, family crisis, family problems, family tragedy ...
Time: 2020s, 21st century
Is relevant?
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The Flowers of War (2011)
Genre: Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: China
Duration: 146 min.
Story: A Westerner finds refuge with a group of women in a church during Japan's rape of Nanking in 1937. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety.
Style: touching, visually stunning, sentimental, harsh, realistic ...
Plot: world war two, sino japanese war, atrocity, war, japanese occupation of china, holocaust, prostitute, suffering, wartime, japanese occupation, genocide, medieval ...
Time: 20th century, ancient times, year 1937, 1930s
Place: china, asia, east asia, seattle, japan ...
Is relevant?
John Tucker Must Die (2006)
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 89 min.
Story: After discovering they are all dating the same same guy, three popular students from different cliques band together for revenge, so they enlist the help of a new gal in town and conspire to break the jerk's heart, while destroying his ...
Style: romantic, sexy, funny, entertaining, teen ...
Audience: teens, girls' night, date night, chick flick, teen drama
Plot: womanizer, teenager, teenage girl, high school life, high school, teen romance, cheerleader, popularity, teenage love, cheerleading, teenage life, school ...
Time: year 2006, 2000s, 21st century
Place: portland oregon, new jersey
Is relevant?
The Debt Collector (2018)
Genre: Action, Comedy
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 95 min.
Story: A classically-trained martial artist goes to work as a debt collector for the mob. The job seems easy enough, until one “client” pulls him into a situation deeper than could ever be expected.
Style: entertaining, perverse, erotic, buddy comedy, semi serious ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: debt collector, martial artist, mafia, unlikely friendships, martial arts, gangster, twists and turns, dark humor, friendship between men, criminal's revenge, partners in crime, crime boss ...
Place: dublin ireland
Is relevant?
 6.4
 1K
Roads (2019)
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Country: Germany, France, USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story: A young man from the Congo in search of his brother attempts to cross Europe's borders. In Morocco, he teams up with a sharp-witted British runaway who pinched his stepfather's recreational vehicle in order to escape from a family holiday. ...
Style: road movie, captivating, disturbing, melancholic
Audience: teen drama
Plot: unlikely friendships, teenage boy, coming of age, motor home, journey, road trip, teenage life, escapades, teenager, border crossing, juvenile delinquency, travel ...
Time: year 2019
Place: morocco, europe, congo, france, north africa
Is relevant?
 6.4
 274
Heaven's Door (2009)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 106 min.
Story: A young man Tomoya Nagase and a girl Mayuko Fukuda both learn that they have an untreatable illness and are nearing death. When one reveals that they have never been to the ocean, they embark on a comical adventure to see the sea.
Style: disturbing, captivating, psychological, tense, road movie ...
Plot: friendship, unlikely friendships, mortality, cancer, terminal illness, adult child friendship, fighting illness, stolen money, friends, escapades, child illness, money ...
Is relevant?
 6.5
 15K
Dutch (1991)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min.
Story: To get to know his girlfriend's son, a man volunteers to pick him up from a prep school....only to learn that her son's not the nicest kid.
Style: road movie, funny, entertaining, feel good, light ...
Audience: kids, girls' night, family outing, teens
Plot: road trip, mischievous children, prank, holiday, culture clash, nothing goes right, foe turned friend, working class, unlikely friendships, reluctant partners, partner, thanksgiving ...
Time: year 1991, 20th century, 90s, 80s
Place: chicago, georgia, usa, australia, london
Is relevant?
 6.0
 34K
Drop Dead Fred (1991)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Country: UK, USA, Germany
Duration: 103 min.
Story: When Elizabeth returns to her mother's home after her marriage breaks up, she recreates her imaginary childhood friend, Fred, to escape from the trauma of losing her husband and her job. In between the chaos and mayhem that Fred creates, ...
Style: surreal, dark comedy, humorous, absurd, light ...
Audience: teens, kids, adult, teen drama
Plot: imaginary friend, childhood memory, mental illness, emotional manipulation, friendship, vengeance, personal growth, emotional abuse, absent father, self discovery, mother daughter relationship, adult humor ...
Time: 80s
Place: minnesota, usa
Is relevant?